The 2019 Round the World Race ended in a virtual tie at 2037 UTC on Sunday, February 17. Beginning at Dubai on Friday night, the two teams flew 44 hours continuously over 17,000nm through day and night into the Himalayas, over the Indonesian archipelago to the tropical shores of Australia and exotic Macau, over wintry China and Siberia to Alaskan airports north of the Arctic Circle, making turns at Yellowknife and Chicago to finish at Phoenix. They experienced thunderstorms and blizzards, radically different winds, made four near-zero visibility unassisted landings, and executed 54 flawless baton handoffs only to finish at Phoenix with exactly the same Day and Hour and Minute on the simulator forum clocks, the race's official timing mechanism. Accordingly, the teams will share the Wilhe Bendit Trophy for 2019. For more details, please see the official NOTAMS explanation The Finish Line in 2019.

Congratulations to both teams for a magnificent overall performance and an exhilarating finish.

About the Round the World Race

The Flight Simulator Around-The-World Race is an annual event conducted between the top flight simulation websites. Enthusiasts from each site gather online to fly their team's virtual baton around the world as fast as possible. The race was first run in 2003. From the beginning, the race has been an open contest with the simple objective of having fun. It is administered by a small executive committee of a few enthusiasts.

Teams

Currently, three websites field teams for the race. They are:

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee has the final authority in running the race. It creates, modifies, and interprets the race charter and rules. The members of this committee are listed below. Please feel free to click on their names in order to contact them via our forum.Mike MacKuen / Rob Ibey / Eamonn Watson

Round the World Race Rules

The rules for the Race are divided into two parts. The first part, the General Rules and Charter, is intended to stay the same from year to year. The second part of the rules is known as the Special Rules and Routing and will vary from year to year.

RTW Race General Rules and Charter

The General Rules and Charter of the RTW Race may be found here.
A FAQ for the General Rules and Charter may be found here.
RTW Whitelist may be found here.